Had biopsy Tuesday..results...

Myshell
Myshell Member Posts: 31
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
not cancer but atypical lobular hyperplasia. My surgeon wants to do an MRI, excisional biopsy of both areas, and have me meet with an oncologist...sounds pretty intense for not being cancer... but I guess it's a cancer precursor? I guess there is increased risk of cancer of either breast and they want to make sure nothing is hiding...soo I'm thankful that I don't have a cancer diagnosis..but a little perplexed about the extent of treatment for my non cancer. :)..anybody out there with this situation?? She made it sound kind of rare??

Comments

  • Jeanne D
    Jeanne D Member Posts: 1,867
    Hi Myshell ♥
    Congrats on it not being cancer! I apologize for not knowing more about lobular hyperplasia. Trust in your doctors to guide you thru whatever treatment that may be necessary. Wishing you good luck!

    Love, Jeanne ♥

    p.s. I went on the Dr. Susan Love site and read some about this. It said that sometimes they suggest that you go on Tamoxifen, a hormone therapy drug, when you have this. So, that might be why you are being asked to see an oncologist.
  • DebbyM
    DebbyM Member Posts: 3,289 Member
    Jeanne D said:

    Hi Myshell ♥
    Congrats on it not being cancer! I apologize for not knowing more about lobular hyperplasia. Trust in your doctors to guide you thru whatever treatment that may be necessary. Wishing you good luck!

    Love, Jeanne ♥

    p.s. I went on the Dr. Susan Love site and read some about this. It said that sometimes they suggest that you go on Tamoxifen, a hormone therapy drug, when you have this. So, that might be why you are being asked to see an oncologist.

    I don't have this, I have
    I don't have this, I have invasive ductal carcinoma. I say congrats are due you, so congratulations! Let us know what your oncologist says about this.

    Debby
  • jk1952
    jk1952 Member Posts: 613
    Jeanne D said:

    Hi Myshell ♥
    Congrats on it not being cancer! I apologize for not knowing more about lobular hyperplasia. Trust in your doctors to guide you thru whatever treatment that may be necessary. Wishing you good luck!

    Love, Jeanne ♥

    p.s. I went on the Dr. Susan Love site and read some about this. It said that sometimes they suggest that you go on Tamoxifen, a hormone therapy drug, when you have this. So, that might be why you are being asked to see an oncologist.

    Hi Myshell. When I had a
    Hi Myshell. When I had a biopsy earlier this year, the doctor said that it was either atypical hyperpasia or DCIS, and she wanted me to have a wide excision biopsy so they could have a better sample to check. Atypical hyperplasia means that there are unusual cells growing, and it could lead to cancer. It is always good to get as much information as possible: in fact, my surgeon had a second opinion done at Vanderbilt for both biopsies, to make sure she knew what she was treating. This time it DCIS.

    In 2000, I had a small amount of invasive lobular carcinoma, along with DCIS, LCIS (same as DCIS but lobular, not ductal), and atypical hyperplasia. It was all very treatable because it was caught early, and it sounds like yours has been also. Lobular cancers are rare compared to ductal cancers: that's probably what your doctor meant. They aren't worse than ductal, they're just a different part of the breast.

    Hope your remaining tests go well and that you receive good reports from them.

    Joyce
  • taleena
    taleena Member Posts: 1,612 Member
    Hi Myshell... well.. I have
    Hi Myshell... well.. I have your situation... kind a sort a... in a different way than you... I was dx'd with invasive ductal carcanoma... (idc)... after the lumpectomy (which turned into a partial mastectomy)... they decided to run more tests... This ended up putting off my radiation treatments for almost two months... one biopsy led to another... The area they were concerned with was up against the chest wall... the biopsy results from this area came back from the pathologsits as "atypical hyperplasia" .... So what was cancer has been removed, and radiated...what is left against the chest wall has the potential to become a cancer reoccurance... I guess you helped me answer my own question that I posed on a different thread... whether or not I wanted to continue with my current treatment regiment... to reduce my chances of reoccurance...

    Atypical hyperplasia is not cancer... thank goodness for you... it does have the potential to become cancer... they can treat this several ways... one, is a through medication such as tamoxifen... or something similar... they will want you to stay away from medications that are hormone replacement therapy's.. such as those that replace estrogen... for post menopausal women... They may just want to screen you more often in the future and watch it... or you may be given the option of a preventive mastectomy (which some women chosse for piece of mind)...

    If you would like more information on this subject a site with some good information is www dot mayoclinic dot com just type in atypical hyperplasia in the search bar, and more information will pop up.

    I wish you the best... and celebrate the wonderful news!! It isn't cancer!

    Hugs,

    ~T
  • carkris
    carkris Member Posts: 4,553 Member
    taleena said:

    Hi Myshell... well.. I have
    Hi Myshell... well.. I have your situation... kind a sort a... in a different way than you... I was dx'd with invasive ductal carcanoma... (idc)... after the lumpectomy (which turned into a partial mastectomy)... they decided to run more tests... This ended up putting off my radiation treatments for almost two months... one biopsy led to another... The area they were concerned with was up against the chest wall... the biopsy results from this area came back from the pathologsits as "atypical hyperplasia" .... So what was cancer has been removed, and radiated...what is left against the chest wall has the potential to become a cancer reoccurance... I guess you helped me answer my own question that I posed on a different thread... whether or not I wanted to continue with my current treatment regiment... to reduce my chances of reoccurance...

    Atypical hyperplasia is not cancer... thank goodness for you... it does have the potential to become cancer... they can treat this several ways... one, is a through medication such as tamoxifen... or something similar... they will want you to stay away from medications that are hormone replacement therapy's.. such as those that replace estrogen... for post menopausal women... They may just want to screen you more often in the future and watch it... or you may be given the option of a preventive mastectomy (which some women chosse for piece of mind)...

    If you would like more information on this subject a site with some good information is www dot mayoclinic dot com just type in atypical hyperplasia in the search bar, and more information will pop up.

    I wish you the best... and celebrate the wonderful news!! It isn't cancer!

    Hugs,

    ~T

    I had that on a biopsy, it
    I had that on a biopsy, it is good they are investigating it furthur. lobulars are not always found on mammograms, so you should be followed with MRI something I did notknow.
  • Eil4186
    Eil4186 Member Posts: 949
    I understand that
    I understand that hyperplasia is an increased cell growth which can be a prequel to cancer. It's wonderful that it was spotted now.
  • susie09
    susie09 Member Posts: 2,930
    Eil4186 said:

    I understand that
    I understand that hyperplasia is an increased cell growth which can be a prequel to cancer. It's wonderful that it was spotted now.

    Glad that it isn't cancer
    Glad that it isn't cancer and glad that they are going to treat you for it.
  • Myshell
    Myshell Member Posts: 31
    susie09 said:

    Glad that it isn't cancer
    Glad that it isn't cancer and glad that they are going to treat you for it.

    Thanks!!
    Thank you all..yes and although this doesn't feel "done" I'm VERY thankful. Anybody have any advice for breast MRI? is it no big deal??
  • taleena
    taleena Member Posts: 1,612 Member
    Myshell said:

    Thanks!!
    Thank you all..yes and although this doesn't feel "done" I'm VERY thankful. Anybody have any advice for breast MRI? is it no big deal??

    The good thing about a
    The good thing about a breast MRI vs. a regular MRI is that your head goes into that dreadful machine last... other than that... the worse part is there is just no graceful lady like way to get into position... you will lay on your stomach, and your breasts are placed in this devise of sorts... (one spot for each of the girls) and then a space to place your head... once you are in position they will put you into the machine and take some pictures... then they will pull you out and inject a well, I don't know what it is... and then they slide you back in for more pictures... the whole process takes about 45 minutes... Good luck.. I hope it all turns out with good news.

    Hugs,

    ~T
  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    Time for more tests
    Yep, your doctor is right on the ball. It is possible that all you have is some atypical cells, but an MRI can check for the spread and the excisional biopsy can check and see if anything else (the cancer kind of stuff) is hidding in the area. It may be nothing, but the doctors ought to be checking just to be sure. I have a variety of weird cells that showed up in my first path reports including both atypical lobular hyperplasia and atypical ductal hyperplasia. My husband thought the doctors were nuts to keep checking, but I was glad they did, especially when some tiny spots of ductal carcinoma were found near those spots of atypical ductal hyperplasia. That was way back in 2002 and everything was caught so early that I got to skip the chemo. As for the ALH, nothing has developed there so far, but my doctors keep checking me out yearly just in case. Good luck!

    C. Abbott
  • MyTurnNow
    MyTurnNow Member Posts: 2,686 Member
    I don't have anything to
    I don't have anything to offer other than a warm welcome to this amazing group. Best of luck to you and please keep us up-to-date on your progress!!
  • jk1952
    jk1952 Member Posts: 613
    taleena said:

    The good thing about a
    The good thing about a breast MRI vs. a regular MRI is that your head goes into that dreadful machine last... other than that... the worse part is there is just no graceful lady like way to get into position... you will lay on your stomach, and your breasts are placed in this devise of sorts... (one spot for each of the girls) and then a space to place your head... once you are in position they will put you into the machine and take some pictures... then they will pull you out and inject a well, I don't know what it is... and then they slide you back in for more pictures... the whole process takes about 45 minutes... Good luck.. I hope it all turns out with good news.

    Hugs,

    ~T

    T explained it well. She
    T explained it well. She just forgot the terrible noise that the machine makes, like all MRI's.

    Joyce
  • terri805
    terri805 Member Posts: 122
    Glad to hear
    Myshell,
    Glad to hear it is not cancer! I had an MRI last week prior to surgery on Thursday. The hardest part for me was laying in that position with my face in a hole for 45 min and my back kind of bowed backward. The "girls" didn't mind their position in the holes. As the others said the machine is noisy but they offered me to use ear plugs or a headset which doesn't totally take away the sound but helps a lot. They put the iv in before I got on the table and then started the flow the last 10 min. Overall it was not bad. Good luck with everything.
  • jnl
    jnl Member Posts: 3,869 Member
    terri805 said:

    Glad to hear
    Myshell,
    Glad to hear it is not cancer! I had an MRI last week prior to surgery on Thursday. The hardest part for me was laying in that position with my face in a hole for 45 min and my back kind of bowed backward. The "girls" didn't mind their position in the holes. As the others said the machine is noisy but they offered me to use ear plugs or a headset which doesn't totally take away the sound but helps a lot. They put the iv in before I got on the table and then started the flow the last 10 min. Overall it was not bad. Good luck with everything.

    The MRI is very loud, but,
    The MRI is very loud, but, you can hear the tech's and they can hear you too. They gave me headphones with the type of music I liked, so, I didn't notice the sound of the machine that much. The stuff they put in my iv felt really weird when it went thru me and I got a metal taste in my mouth, but, it only lasted a minute. You will do fine. It is a good test to have.

    Leeza